Health Care Revolving Door

Top ObamaCare official Marilyn Tavenner, who until February was "administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that insures one in three Americans and has an annual budget of more than $800 billion," will take over August 24 as the "top lobbyist for America' health insurance industry," taking over as "president and chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade group whose members include Aetna, Anthem, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and many Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies," the New York Times reports.

Writes Times reporter Robert Pear: "Her selection as chief lobbyist for the industry highlights how federal health programs have become a priority for insurers, which increasingly depend on revenues from Medicare and Medicaid and the public insurance marketplaces created under the 2010 health law."